Winston Salem RoadRunners – 7.20.14 (Ryan O’Reilly – NHL)

Winston Salem RoadRunners – 7.20.14 (Ryan O’Reilly – NHL)

The Winston Salem RoadRunners made a stop by the studio last night for what is becoming our regular Sunday night practice together. The boys had a busy weekend as they were in Durham Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a track meet. I had some wonderful news relayed to me about some PR’s (Personal Records), first place finishes and even some yoga moves after races (which naturally I was extremely proud of!). So after such a busy weekend, you’d think they’d have a tough time getting motivated to do a little yoga, right? Wrong! They ate it up! I was so impressed with how the boys came in (and yes, they were goofy … but we’re all goofy … you just have to embrace it!) and were ready to stretch out some tight hamstrings, calves, and other muscle groups. We’ll have one more practice together before they had out to Iowa next week for a national track event. Below is the focus and meditation that we used last night. As we continue to use popular athletes as our focus, we talked about Ryan O’Reilly of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche.

“It’s by far the toughest training, and best training, I do,” O’Reilly said. “I could go on and on about what it’s done for me, but if you look at injury-wise, preventing injuries, it’s a huge thing.”

O’Reilly, who tries to practice yoga at least twice a week, about 75 minutes at a time, has missed only 10 NHL games since signing with the Avs in 2009 at age 18.

“In yoga, it’s not like you’re lifting weights and just building muscle mass. You’re working all the fibers, all the tissue. A lot of times guys get hurt (playing hockey) because they’re extended and don’t have that strength and flexibility,” O’Reilly said. “Yoga is the teacher of strength and flexibility, and it activates everything.”

“Controlling your breath is a huge benefit for me,” O’Reilly said. “When you do yoga classes, you’re so present in every little detail inside your body. And when I play hockey, I try to do the same thing — especially after a bad shift. I try to come back to my breath, inhale and exhale, and that brings you back into the moment. I’m like, ‘OK, I’m recovered. What am I going to do now?’ “